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The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy announced on Nov. 1 that Korea’s total exports decreased 15.8 percent from a year ago to US$43.5 billion last month. The estimated decrement is the largest since August 2009, when total exports had declined by 20.9 percent. The exports continued to decline for 10 months in a row, too. During the 10 months of this year, Korea’s total exports and imports added up to US$440.3 billion and US$367.5 billion, respectively.

The exports of semiconductor products, which reached a new high last year, fell 7.0 percent due to a drop in memory chip prices. The auto parts exports had increased by 4.4 percent in September, but dropped by 7.5 percent in the following month. Ship exports decreased by US$2.9 billion year-on-year due to a lack of offshore plant delivery schedule and the exports relying on merchant ships such as container carriers and gas carriers.

Automobile exports fell 1.3 percent as emerging market demands decreased and the exports from the steel sector recorded a sharp decline of 29.6 percent. Those of computers (-0.4 percent), general machinery (-3.7 percent), flat panel displays (-9.7 percent), textiles (-15.0 percent) and consumer electronics (-24.2 percent) fell as well. Meanwhile, those of mobile phone components and wireless communications equipment increased 32.0 percent and 8.4 percent, respectively.

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